Cease and desist from national chain causes Columbus pizzeria to rename popular pie

We all know (and many of us love) Massey’s Pizza, but you may not know the interesting–and, dare we say, saucey–story behind one of their popular pizzas, what was formerly known as The Godfather, and the reason for its official name change.

The pie, which combines a deep-dish, buttery crust, two layers of cheese, Italian sausage and pepperoni, was known as the Godfather until the summer of 2022, when, according to Massey’s CMO Richard Folk, the eatery received a cease and desist from Godfather’s Pizza (a national pizza chain) claiming copyright infringement.

Today, the pie is known as the Sicilian Deep Dish, but according to Folk, it wasn’t easy or cheap to officially scrub the name from all of Massey’s assets.

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“The process of scrubbing the name was extensive and expensive. We had to have all box toppers, table tents, menus, etc., plus we had to have our Godfather TV spots and social media videos re-edited to reflect the new name. We also had to change all the menu boards at all locations,” Folk said. “As a small player, it was fun to be acknowledged by a huge pizza chain with 1,300 locations. However, most of those are in convenience stores/gas stations/truck stops. They are basically a gas station pizza! We were required to submit samples from social media, our website and menus of the name having been successfully changed to Sicilian Deep Dish Pizza.”

The irony? To this day, many customers still refer to the pie as The Godfather.

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